On 23 June 2016, the United Kingdom (UK) voted in a national referendum to leave the European Union (EU) — a process known as Brexit. While the withdrawal of the UK from the EU remains clouded in uncertainties, Brexit represents arguably the most important political event in Europe since the Fall of the Berlin Wall. It upset consolidated assumptions on the finality of the EU, and simultaneously opened new challenges: for the UK constitutional settlement, e.g. in Scotland and Northern Ireland, for the relations between the UK and Ireland, as well as for the future of the EU as such.

Given the multifaceted legal, political and economic implications of Brexit, Dublin City University (DCU) has established the Brexit Institute with the aim to explore how Brexit impacts on government, business and society at large. The DCU Brexit Institute operates as a hub and a magnet for the analysis of Brexit, both from an academic and a policy perspective. Through the organization of regular events the Brexit Institute provides a leading platform to document and debate developments in the relations between the UK and the EU.